Dr. Bridget Wallace
Dr. Bridget wallace is a regular reader at the White House Poetry Revival sessions.
A native of Limerick city, whe has previously published in Incognito, The Stony Thursday Book and Revival. Holding a PhD from Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, (English Language Dept.), Bridget's special area of interest is Postcolonial theory and modern Middle Eastern literature, with particular focus on poetry. She has been an English Literature tutor with Oscail, the Irish Open University and has facilitated creative writing workshops. Her work can be found in SEXTET, (Revival Press, 2010), an anthology of six poets, and in Revival, the poetry journal. In 2012 she was guest poet at Crawley Wordfest, UK and, in 2015, won the Viva Voce poetry competition at Éigse Michael Hartnett.
February 2016
Sunday, 21st February, saw the launch of Bridget Wallace's much awaited first collection. Entitled Shadow Horses and launched at the Hunt Museum, the introduction by fellow poet Teri Murray ('a wide range of subjects, contexts ... set in various locations'), saw the opening poem Rifleman, (in memory of the poet's uncle, Patrick O Halloran, killed in 1918 while a soldier with the Royal Irish Rifles), set a war theme that ricochets throughout the book. However, in a manner exemplified by the poet's own reading of her work, the ravages and consequences of war are quietly and firmly stated under titles like Sarajevo, A Postcard from the Front, The Irish Brigade, Brothers in Arms and, among the lines of other less obvious titles. For all this seeming restraint, nothing of the poet's intended message is lost - mankind's inhumanity to mankind. There are other journeys too. At first like walks in familiar boreens of the mind, but suddenly lit by news-flash feelings you'd forgotten you had, should have had, envied, or feared you may now experience. You will feel love, tenderness and loss in unexpected places among these lines. Read them all - slowly. You will be awakened.
Shadow Horses, is published by Revival Press with book and cover design by Lotte Bender, features a striking watercolour painting of horses by the poet herself.
JULY 2014
With the aim of promoting creativity among the public, Bridget teemed up with Sheila Fitzpatrick-O'Donnell (see link) to form the 'Reading at Random' project. This saw them enlist the help of a chair (yes... chair) which they bring everywhere with them and encourage the public to sit and tell their stories. They have so far visited Sligo, Tulla and Sixmilebridge and hope to raise funds towards a poetry bus and run a Poetry Tour of Ireland. It's rumoured they're on FaceBook, check it out.
See also:
Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 2:34PM